
SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON QUARTERLY
23
15.
What did He counsel the disciples to do ? Why?
Verse 14, first part.
16.
What will happen to blind leaders and followers?
Verse 14, last part.
17.
What request did Peter then make? Verse 15.
18.
What was Jesus' response? Verse i6.
19.
To what process of nature does Jesus allude in the
first part of verse II ?
Ans.
To the eating and digestion
of physical food. See verse 17.
zo. How did He interpret the last part of verse ii?
Verse I81
21.
How did He explain it more fully? Verse 19.
22.
What was His conclusion? Verse
20.
Notes
i. The charge brought against the disciples, that they did not
wash their hands when they ate, evidently referred to cere-
monial washing, not to the ordinary washing of the hands. The
complaint' was that in neglecting to wash their hands before
eating, the disciples transgressed the tradition of the elders ; but
so common and necessary a thing as the washing of the hands
could not have been a tradition. Jesus says, in verse 20, that
"to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man." That He
referred to moral, not physical defilement, is clear from what He
said of the things that do defile a man, in verse 19.
2. "They set aside the fifth commandment as of no conse-
quence, but were very exact in carrying out the traditions of the
elders. They taught the people that the devotion of their prop-
erty to the temple was a duty more sacred than even the sup-
port of their parents; and that, however great the necessity, it
was sacrilege to impart to father or mother any part of what
had been thus consecrated. An undutiful child had only to pro-
nounce the word `Corban' over his property, thus devoting it
to God, and he could retain it for his own use during his life-
time, and after his death it was to be appropriated to the temple
service. Thus he was at liberty, both in life and in death, to
dishonor and defraud his parents, under cover of a pretended
devotion to God."—"Desire of Ages," pages 396, 397.
A person might thus exempt himself from any inconvenient
obligation. The Jews permitted debtors to defraud creditors
by consecrating their debt to God.